The Canon Logic talk CMJ, crazy metalheads, and their move from Philly to Brooklyn

After a week of gigs at the CMJ Music Marathon, which took place all over New York and even New Jersey, Brooklyn band The Canon Logic took a few minutes to hangout before their last set of the festival. We discussed their most recent EP, Rapid Empire, a crazy metalhead they encountered on their most recent tour around the Midwest, and why they decided to relocate from Philly to Brooklyn.

I saw you had a pretty enthused crowd last week at Spike Hill during the CMJ Music Marathon. How did you enjoy the festival? Did you get a chance to go see other bands play?

It was great. I saw a bunch of bands last night and saw this band Luscious and they were awesome. I saw We Are Augustines and they just killed it. They played Spike Hill as well. It was nice to see a band that I really admire play the same venue as us to see how they engage the crowd. CMJ’s great because not only are there shows going on at every single venue, but even people in the streets are playing and there’s marching bands going around. So there isn’t a second of down time.

You site bands like the Beach Boys and the Beatles as some of your big influences. I also hear a little new wave sound in some of your songs. What bands have you found to be most influential to you in your song-writing?

We all listened to those bands when we were younger, but I think that with our newer stuff we’re trying to explore some new sounds. Bands like the Beatles, we admire how they constantly put out music and they were always progressing and changing. The product I wouldn’t necessarily say sounds like anyone. I don’t think we think in a new wave way, but maybe some of the songs come out as a little 80’s.

Where does your band name come from?

It came from an EP we were recording at the time. It was something Tim had thought up. We were struggling to find a name. So someone said why don’t we just name ourselves The Canon Logic because it was already going out on the EP, so we just kind of rolled with it.

You’re based in Brooklyn now, but where are you originally from?

We’re from all around the surrounding areas. Two of us are from central Jersey, two from the Philly area, and Zach’s from Long Island. So we just kind of converged on Brooklyn. We were in Philly first and that was a lot of fun, but it felt kind of small. And then we got here and immediately stuff started taking off. It’s just a much bigger scene and atmosphere. Philly’s scene was dying. The places we were playing at were all starting to close down. Even the venues we were playing at that were considered good venues, people just weren’t coming to shows there. It’s weird because there are a lot of good bands that come out of Philly, but being in Philly, the music scene doesn’t stand out as much as in Brooklyn. Here, you just have to walk around in Williamsburg or on the Lower East Side and you can tell that people are really excited to be going to all these different shows.

I hear you just got back to New York from some touring in the Midwest. What cities were you in and how did things go?

We played in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Rock Island, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. It was cool. We had a lot of fun shows. We did a Daytrotter session in Rock Island and ended up spending a whole day there and playing a show at a coffee shop and staying at the coffee shop owner’s house. It was a fun experience to get out of the city. The Midwestern hospitality thing certainly rang true. Indianapolis was our first stop. We didn’t know what to expect, but it was probably our weirdest billing. It was a metal bar, The Rock House. The audience had a good time. They appreciated it and welcomed us. There was one guy that was really enthusiastic. A little too enthusiastic. After every song he was like “come on, these guys are amazing!” [Laughs]

Did you drive there all in one van?

Yeah, it was a perfect fit. One more guitar or a backpack and we would have been finished.

Did you at least have some good music to listen to?

Our radio was stolen the day before we left. We rigged up an iPod system, but the speakers were only in the front, so if you were driving, it was blasting and then in the back of the van you couldn’t hear it at all.

Can you describe the feel of your newest EP, Rapid Empire, a bit?

It’s a little more expansive than our last album, FM Arcade. You can tell it comes from what we were doing on FM, but it’s a little bit bigger and meatier. It has a solid feel throughout. We’re proud of it and it’s fun to play. We’re still working on new stuff too.

Are you planning on releasing a full LP anytime soon?

Yeah, soon. As soon as we can. We’re seven or eight songs into it. It shouldn’t take as long as the last album took, which took about a year and a half.

What’s on your agenda for this fall and winter?

We’re going to start doing some longer touring. Plus we gotta get this record made. So pretty much balance those two things.

About Julie Kocsis

Julie Kocsis is Associate Editor and a contributing writer of ShortAndSweetNYC.com. Living in Brooklyn, she works for Penguin Random House during the day and writes about rock bands at night. In addition to her many band interviews as well as album and concert reviews that have been published on ShortAndSweetNYC.com, she has also been published on The Huffington Post, Brooklyn Exposed and the Brooklyn Rail.

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